Shop flooring?

The best shop flooring i had ever worked on was the old style wooden blocks which were placed onto a shop in a brick laying manor. They were thick, probably 4 or 5 inches.
Not safe for sparks though and definitely not a place you would want to lay out a frame.
I suppose todays improvement to that would be the rubberized coatings that are used for ewalking paths and athletic track paths.

 

If ergos are of concern, whatever floors you use, invest in a thick ergo mat for the high work areas. The ones I like to spec at work are around an inch thick, tapered edges. 3x10 up to 4x15 tend to be really handy sizes that can be easily moved every few years to follow your work patterns. For wet areas or high debris areas, you can get perforated versions that keep it away from your soles. Good luck with the project, sounds cool

 

To be traditional the floor should be dirt!

 

Hey Jeff -- Ms. Detonator just came home from Costco with some anti-fatigue floor mats for me (gotta love her!) There are 8 interlocking pieces, 2 foot square each, and about half an inch thick. So 32 sq feet, all for $11. I'll let you know how it works out.

Dave

PS Nesse's place is a garage-mahal, eh? Nice collection, love that speedster.

 

Jeff:
I did some paint work for a guy down here who had a great floor in his garage.From a distance it looked like traditional black and white asphalt tile squares but in reality was some synthetic material that had a non-skid surface and was oil and solvent resistant as well.It was of a floting type contruction in that it was conatined within a framework and was allowed to move in conjunction with weight applied and temperature changes.It was kind of pricey if I remember correctly but his friend had bought a bunch of it and I could have purchased it from him for like $2-3 a square..I can find out the name of the material if you like.Here's a couple of pics of what it looks like.

 

I glued sheets of 1 inch thick foam to my concrete floor, and then glued 1/2 in particleboard going the other direction on top of that. So far it works great!

 

Concrete floors will kill your back and legs!

I bought some tiling/interlocking foam type fatigue mats and put them in my heavy traffic area. The first time I hosed out the floor, a nice thin layer of water seeped under them and made for some entertaining near whoopsie-daisies the next day. Thank goodness I used to skate and surf a lot!

I was at Sam's Club the other day and noticed they have a much heavier type tiling mat that said it has anti-slip bottoms. I think I'm going to spring for those soon.

 

there`s a place here in texas called, tractor supply company. they have rubber non slip 3/4 inch thick horse stall mats , check them out 48 x 84 = $65 . mytscstore.com

 

TSC rules!

 

I recently had a friend offer me his used 20X22 Racedeck show setup. It would be great in my shop (24X24) But I can't come off the cash for it right now, even though he want less than half of what he paid.

 

If that's the foam stuff, I bought some too. I can't get it to stay in place, and everytime you bump the edge it comes apart. Probably work good in a kids room.

I think the flooring that safariknut is talking about is Racedeck. Nice stuff, and kinda expensive. If you're building a work studio, maybe you can write it off as a business expense.

Here's the link www.racedeck.com

They have a program on the site that you can put in the dimensions of your space, and design with different patterns and colors.

 

Race Deck is plastic and that's what it looks like.

I also use the Costo two-foot-square recycled rubber tiles and I like them a lot.

****ing them into a corner, or at least against a wall, helps them stay in place. Stepping up onto them keeps the borders from popping out.

This flooring is cheap and extremely comfortable. Lots of people comment on these tiles when they walk on them. You can drop a micrometer on them and it will just bounce.

Dave
http://www.roadsters.com/

 

Hey Dave, any more info on that flooring, sounds like what I am looking for. Thanx-MIKE

 

Considering my car shop is a renovated 100 year old steam generator shed,I feel fortunate to have a concrete floor let alone time to be out there. Still I appreciate the foot and back problem since I am on my feet all day at work. I have all the non car areas carpeted with a very thick pink **** that for some reason my neighbor was discarding. Supposedly flame resistant,it it gets ruined-I don't care.

The rubber matting that's been talked about is acutally cow stall matting, thought tsc has several different kinds. a 4'x5"x0.75" mat is about $47. here/ The bigger mat,as stated is $65. Since they are stall mats,you can poop on them and everything,then just hose them off.
Seriously,though,I don't know how they'd stand up to exposure of automotive chemicals.

 

Tingler will be interested in this...

 

check this stuff out all different sizes, thickness and patterns and Costco carries the diamond plate. http://www.bltllc.com/

 

Hey Jeff,
Paint the concrete in a 12" black and white checkerboard design then gat a high quality pair of shoes [one white wnd one black] that way your feet are comfy it will be cheap and they always match whichever tile you are steppin on...... JUST KIDDING....

 

Why not install your trusses as usuall then just frame up whatever size dormers you want on top of them?....If it's your shop who cares if you have rafters running through them.

What will your ceiling span be?...IOW, how wide is your shop?